SPINAL ANGIOLIPOMAS REVISITED - 2 CASE-REPORTS

Approximately 60 cases of spinal angiolipomas have been described in t he medical literature. Extradural rumours predominate. Lesions with a bony component, the infiltrating subgroup, were reported in 10 patient s. Intradural angiolipomas were found three times. Several excellent r eview articles are available, but a systematic comparison of the chara cteristics of the two major varieties, infiltrating and non-infiltrati ng spinal extradural angiolipomas, has not so far been made. The autho rs operated on two patients with spinal angiolipomas and found one of them the infiltrating and the other the non-infiltrating type. Then, t hey proceeded to a review of all publish cases of infiltrating angioli pomas. With a knowledge of recently reported data on the subject the a uthors compared essential clinical features of both varieties of tumou rs. They share identical clinical characteristics. Differences found i n age, sex or location were not statistically significant. Mode of ons et and signs and symptoms present on admission were essentially simila r. As could be anticipated, removal was more often complete in non-inf iltrating rumours, but outcome was good or fair in more than 85% of ca ses in both groups. Involvement of bone by spinal angiolipomas does no t imply a worsening in the prognosis.